Mac Baren Golden Blend

This is a favorite of mine in the MacBaren line. It is not too sweet and has a nice tobacco taste. Perhaps a bit bland for regular consumption on my part, but a nice change of pace. As I find to be the case with most MacBaren tobaccos, a slow burn is necessary to get the most out of the blend and to prevent tongue bite. It is nicely rubbed and will pack easily in any size pipe. Since the flavor and strength are not overwhelming, fire it up in a big Ben Wade or some other Danish freehand and enjoy!

I was in search for an all day blend and this one seemed right.once the tin opens a nice sour,fruity and cocoa smell comes out.the blend is consisted of broken and rubbed flakes wich are in proper moisture to pack easy and light with some effort.some further rubbing might be helpful to avoid relights.while burning the flavours are simple and natural.burleys are the main player being sweet,sour and a bit spicy.molasses,sugar,spices and lots of cocoa notes are combined very natural with the virginias wich are in the backround offering some grass and citrus notes.generally the blend flavours are simple and smooth.burns slow and medium hot to perfect ash with a lot moisture at the filter.nicotine level is under medium and the aftertaste is pleasant.room note is somewhat pleasant.an easy going all day blend.recommended.

Different than I expected it to be, yet pretty damn delicious and worthy to be a classic still in production! I was expecting it to be much sweeter, yet I'm pleasantly surprised this one comes along pretty natural.

I like to compare this to Solani's Aged Burley Flake, as this is like his "tad sweeter, more nutty toned brother". Whilst ABF is dark, rich cocoa, like chocolate with 80% or more cocoa in it, with excellent, tobacco-y aged white Burley, Golden Blend is more on the nutty side. With slight honey sweetness, but really not much. GB is milk-chocolaty at best. I don't get too much chocolate from it, more rich tobacco-y Burley taste reminiscent of nuts, dark bread and pleasant, moderate spice. The Virginias are really just flattening edges on this one, I can't really detect them much, guess they give the honey-ish sweetness in the back. Typically for Burley heavy blends the flavor profile doesn't offer to much diversification, but the few taste-dimensions it offers are from excellent aroma and highest quality.

Comparing it to other Mac Baren blends this is not as sweet as Navy Flake or Scottish Mixture f.e

It really compares very well to ABF, and will definetly accompany ABF in my tobacco bar, as my two go-to Burleys. Even tho ABF is rather dark, and GB more bright toned in taste, they not only "live in the same alley"....they "live in the same house", using this fitting metaphor.

I like smoking this in a well seasoned "dedicated to Burleys" pipe (corn cob in my case) with rather small bowl size, so the chocolate and nuts gets toned up a little by the other blends smoked in it.

Not too mild, even tho I got told this to be very mild. Mild+, close to medium for me. The Burley has some power, but it's very suitabel for beginners/smokers who prefer a mild smoke and as a first bowl in the morning.

3/4 stars - not the most complex blend, but solid as rock "All-Day-Every-Day-Smoke", that deserves being around for some more decades. ABF is a tad better to my personal taste. This is "pipe tobacco" I imagine to be smoked by generations, by all and sundry with joy. There's a reason that it's around since 1952! It's classy in all aspects.

Burley dominated tobaccos are a rare event...unfortunately! I think there should be much more burley dominated blends on the market and that the whole potential of this great nutty wheat is still far from being fully discovered.

Here we have one of only few burleys out there and this one is simple and honest in the best sense of these words. There is nothing 'special', 'terrific' or 'extraordinaire', just mostly burley and some Virginia to give it some sweetness - and that is absolutely enough! I love this honest tobacco taste with hints of nuts and dark chocolate provided by mother earth and good craftsmanship.

Pack it loose and smoke slowly!

4 stars!!!

well, this one was a pleasant surprise!

when i was a beginner i came across the inevitable mac baren blends pretty soon and they gave me enough pleasure to stick to it. but soon i got tired of a) the ever present honey-like casing in almost every blend and b) the annoying tongue-bite whenever i got a tiny bit careless for a millisecond.

long story short, i discovered enough other good blends that were not so demanding and touchy and offered way more variety and i have been abandoning the mac barens altogether since then.

recently though i became inquisitive about burleys which i had neglected so far for no real reason resp. because of its reputation as a mere aroma carrier due to its spongue-like structure. so i considered it boring.

having learned (i thought) from my beginner's mistakes i decided to try some quality weed right from the start and purchased a tin of solani's aged burley flake because of all the good reviews it got here. ABF is far from bad, BUT it's a very demanding tobacco imo (exactly what i tried to avoid...), mainly due to its moistness which is ridiculous, and i have a hard time finding the right amount of drying time. when it's still too moist it's almost impossible to let it stay lit, but a wee bit too dry and it's going all bland and ashy. ok, i'm exaggerating a bit, but considering the prize, ABF really is not what i had expected.

what i do enjoy about ABF, however (i.e. the taste, on the rare occasions it burns well; it IS a quality weed after all), i find to a large extent in mac baren's golden blend as well: richness, nuttiness, mouthfilling creamyness. and, a big surprise considering it's a mac baren, it's almost impossible to get a tongue bite at all!

it comes with the right moisture and is fit to be smoked straight out of the tin, although i would recommend to let it get some air which takes away a little of what i suspect to be some sort of preservative (??). by that i mean: open the tin for maybe 5 mins, close it and wait , say, 2 or 3 days before you smoke it.

it's easy to lit, stays lit easily, the taste is steady until the very last puff. since it is a ready rubbed it tastes better in bigger pipes. i reserved two pipes for my burleys and it shines in my brebbia fat bob.

a satisfying smoke for hot, mild or cold days, reliable, not boring despite its straightness.

oh, and i forgot the virginia in it! good quality as well, acts as a (slight!) sweetener and adds a (again, slight!) tangyness to an otherwise possibly too smooth a smoke, but definitely lets the burley call the tune.

i think it's also a good recommendation for beginners who are used to aromatics and want to try something natural, because it is so easy to handle and, though not really "sweet", has that certain, well, gentleness (for lack of a better word), which they might be missing in other non-aromatics.

highly recommended!

Edit: Re-visiting my ratings I have to downgrade this one to 3 stars. Otherwise you could get the wrong impression, e.g. because I gave Dunhill's 965 "only" 3 stars also. Golden Blend is not better than 965, but I don't want to give 965 the full 4 stars because there are better Latakia Blends imo. So, I still highly recommend Golden Blend, the downgrading is only for clarity and plausibility.

According to Mac Baren, this is the same as their Golden Blend. Golden Blend is the European name and Golden Extra is the name for USA distribution. My reviews for each are the same:

I have re-introduced myself to Golden Blend (my tins read Golden Extra) after a lapse of many years. This review is of the tinned version (stamped Oct 2008) and freshly opened. The tin note is a tad sweeter than Mac's London Burley Blend which is a favorite of mine. Moisture level right for me, packed and lit easily. There was no problem keeping this one lit. I would say that it is similar to Mac's London, but differs in that it is not as full-bodied as Burley London Blend. There is no typical honey casing as with many of Mac's offerings. What I detect is the very mild presence of chocolate, and bittersweet. If any honey is present, I can not detect it. Although the tin description lists it, I do not detect the inclusion of any Virginia in Golden Blend. Slow smoking reveals a mildly sweet tasting Burley. It is more astringent/sour than BLB but not bitter or harsh on the throat.

Before lighting my pipe, I like to suck through the stem to taste the tobacco and rate its flavoring. As stated, this one had a very decided chocolate taste before lighting. After lighting, the chocolate presence took a back seat, but not in a bad way. The solid tobacco taste was the front runner. There was no bite whatsoever. Sometimes the Mac's produce a slight sting to the tongue, but not with this one. I puffed on it fairly aggressively to test this out. I eventually settled to a more paced smoke which was very enjoyable from start to finish. Golden Blend is a pleasant smoke. Although I find BLB fuller tasting as a Burley, Golden Blend is a nice change of pace for when I want a lighter Burley with a touch more sweetness. Truly, a superior smoke.

I like burley but I don't like this one. I find it bland and boring. There is nothing here to hold my interest at all. There are plenty of much better burley blends available. I am not even going to finish the tin I have.I'll just give it away but then again I wouldn't do that to a friend!!

NEXT!!

This is the quintessential Danish blend. Take excellent Burley, age it in cakes, flavor it gently with honey, rub it out just a bit, and voila! You have Golden Extra. This is the only MacBaren blend I can smoke without worrying about tongue bite.

Burley London Blend was too bland, Navy Flake was too sweet, Golden Extra seems to be Just Right. Smooth, nutty, slightly creamy and sweet. Excellent first thing in the morning with a cup of hot tea, or black coffee. This blend smokes beautifully right down to the bottom of the bowl.

And another good, basic tobacco blend from Macbaren.

By now it has become apparent that I'm a bit of a sucker for burley. And Golden Blend is not letting me down in that department, being a good, solid burley-based mixture. The smoke is wholesome, with that satisfying earthy, woody, slightly dark-chocolatey burley tang; and won't bite unless you're careless. It does seem to burn quite hot at times, so again, don't try to rush it, choose another blend if in a hurry.

If I go to a random kiosk and find that amongst all the supermarket brands there sits for some reason a row of Golden Blend, I'm a very happy man.